Insider reveals damning timeframe it took for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to discover Cristiano Ronaldo was joining Man Utd

A Manchester United insider has claimed the time it took for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to find out Cristiano Ronaldo was joining the club.

Back in the summer of 2021, it was widely reported that Ronaldo was going to end his time with Serie A giants Juventus.

The likes of United, Chelsea and Manchester City were all linked with the Portuguese legend but he chose to re-sign for the Old Trafford club in August.

Before Ronaldo came, Solskjaer, who was manager at the time, had already brought in Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho.

Speaking on the Stretford Paddock, Stephen Howson, who works closely with former United man Rio Ferdinand spoke about the Ronaldo deal.

Howson questioned whether Solskjaer was consulted before the deal was completed.

He said: “Look at the Ronaldo signing, I don’t even know if Solskjaer was consulted at any point until the deal was almost complete.

“Thursday night 9 o’clock, he(Ronaldo) is going to Manchester City. At some point over the night, he rings Rio(Ferdinand) and goes ‘United don’t want me, can you ring someone?’

“And it sounds like to me that Jorge Mendes(Ronaldo’s agent), had done a little bit of dirty work. He hadn’t told United about the transfer to City he was just taking him to City but he told Ronaldo that United didn’t want him.”

Howson continued: “So Ronaldo rings Rio, Rio rings (Dave) Woodward and goes ‘you know Ronaldo is on a plane right now going to a medical for Manchester City’ and he went ‘you what?’.

“And then I think someone got in touch with Fergie(Sir Alex Ferguson), I think someone got in touch with Woodward. Woodward got in touch with Matt Judge. They decided whatever, the deal was done.

“And Ole was probably like the ninth person on that list. By the way you’ve got Cristiano Ronaldo, not like ‘would you like Cristiano Ronaldo’, by the way, we’ve just signed Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Ronaldo’s second stint at United ended in bitter fashion after his explosive interview with Piers Morgan.

In November 2022, the forward’s contract was mutually terminated and Ronaldo went on to sign for Saudi Professional League side Al Nassr in January 2023.